Autobot Menace!In a strange coincidence, I got taken out of action for a little over a week by a minor car accident. I'm nearly certain that I saw the Autobot insignia on the offending vehicle.
- Jabberwocky More >

In a recent post on his ShootForTheEdit.com forums, Michael Bay once again expressed his backing of the Blu-Ray DVD format and his hopes that Transformers will see a Blu-Ray release:

Well another studio down. Maybe I was right? Blu ray is just better. HD will die a slow death. It's what I predicted a year ago. Now with Warner's down for the count with Blu Ray. That makes it easier for Wal-Mart to push Blu Ray. And whatever Wal-Mart pushes - wins. Hd better start giving out those $120 million dollars checks to stay alive. Maybe they can give me some so I can give it to my Make-A-Wish charity, just to shut me up. Have faith people Transformers will come out in Blu-ray one day!

Bay

The studio that he mentions in the beginning is Warner Brothers, who recently announced that they would begin releasing their films exclusively in Blu-Ray.

In another thread, visitors were discussing whether or not Jazz would return in Transformers 2, which Bay responded to with this reply:

No Jazz is dead. We have way more cool robots to come.

Bay

Sorry, folks. I know how endearing his twenty seconds of total speaking time were, but we have pull it together and move on.

Newsarama sat down with Josh van Reyk from Transformers Mosiac, a collection of fans who have come together to collaborate on original Transformers comics. The main topic of discussion is their new 22-page Transformers War Journal project.

Newsarama: How did War Journal come about? Who came up with such an idea?

Josh van Reyk: Since we have started releasing the Mosaics, one comment has always been consistent; "too short." I'd been racking my brains to try and solve this problem, while still keeping the feel of the Mosaics intact. So when John-Paul Bove and Tom Parrish (who have both been involved in Mosaic) came to me with their idea of creating a full 22-page comic made up of separate, yet linked Mosaic-style stories, I grabbed hold and started running. This is very much their baby, I'm very luck to have had such a big role in bringing it to life.

The Planet Network is extremely pumped to announce the launching of our latest site, Planet WWE. This is your new one-stop location for all sorts of WWE news, features, WWE Divas, show recaps and so much more. Put on your flashiest leotard and jump in the ring to see what is going down.

While answering a few questions e-mailed to him from a Seibertron reader, IDW Publishing's editor in chief Chris Ryall hinted at two "Biiig" Transformers comic events coming our way this year:

Q: By the way, not really knowing that I might get an answer, but any BIG Transformer stories or news this year coming up?

A: Biiig things for the TFs this year, yeah, something no one knows about yet.

Q: The dead universe? Or is it the story that goes WAY back in the TF History?

A: Neither one, actually. Although we're also going to do the TF origins this year, too. That one will be called "The Thirteen."

Ryall confirmed that the teaser image he posted on the IDW forums in December - a red decepticon symbol with the tagline "Swear Allegiance" - is connected to the unnamed project. We'll keep you up-to-date as more details come in.

Michael Bay's official site has been updated with the following message for his fans:

I want to thank Nelson for running such a good site!

For the millions of viewers that logged on this year I want to thank you for the support. Transformers 2 will be coming soon. The new robots are really really unique and there are a lot of them this time.

I WANT EVERYONE TO HAVE A GREAT HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

Your friend,

Michael

Lots of robots? I, for one, hope that means the herbivore Dinobots are called into action to combat the menace of a previously unheard of strain of stationary Plantbots.

Although Paramount announced that Transformers 2 will be in theatres on June 26th of 2009, a recent article on The Hollywood Reporter refers to the movie's release as "unslotted". Did the Hollywood Reporter - whose job, I'm assuming, is to report on Hollywood - somehow miss the release date announcement, or are we finally seeing an effect from the writer's strike?

Valentine's Day may be more than two months away, but that should give you plenty of time to write your 10,000 word manifesto in very tiny print on the back of a Transformers movie valentine card to show the object of your affection your true feelings. Thanks to Seibertron for spotting this previously unheard of bit of merchandise.

In case you don't remember this particular gag in the Transformers movie due to Michael Bay's comedic timing - which involves jarring transitions between each shot that lasts a fraction of a second - there was an air freshener dangling from Bumblebee's rearview mirror featuring a cartoon bee and the caption "Bee-otch".

As it turns out, a woman is suing DreamWorks for $850,000, claiming that she has owns the copyright to that design and that she never gave the movie's producers the rights to feature it in the movie or produce their own version as Transformers merchandise.

"Now she tries to sell her work, which had been a consistent seller, and people think she's ripping off 'Transformers,' " said lawyer Daniel Abraham.

Madden came up with the design for a bee over the word "Bee-otch" back in 2002, and licensed it out for use on air fresheners, mugs and shirts.

In June, she attended a merchandisers convention at the Javits Center and was stunned to see it being displayed on air fresheners in the "Transformers" booth.

For more details, read the full report by the New York Post under the headline "Giant Robots Stole My Idea".

Transformers comic writer Simon Furman updated his blog in time for Christmas (even if I'm only posting about it now) with a special gift for all of his fans:

And here’s a little Xmas something for you all, a look at the Beast Wars series that never was, in the shape of my original script for ‘Shell Game’ issue #1. Created to tie in with the BW Summer Special story published by a certain ex-TF publisher, it differs significantly from what became (in the fullness of time) Beast Wars: The Gathering.

Scroll waaaay down to the bottom of this week's Lying In the Gutters column on Comic Book Resources and you'll find the cover art to the Transformers movie sequel comic. Now check out the cover below it, from issue #5 of the Marvel Transformers series. See anything familiar?

Just now waking up from your holiday meal-induced coma/stupor? Welcome back, and don't forget to check out the one and a half hour Transformers: Animated premiere tonight at 8 on Cartoon Network. Unless, of course, you're not in the United States. In that case, you can go back into hibernation until the new year.

Just when I was starting to think we'd never get any goofy Transformers, the guys at Jalopnik went and proved me wrong. One hundred cars assembled - and then presumably rolled out - in the shape of the Autobots logo for one heck of an unusual aerial photograph. See it for yourself here!

The podcast section of Cartoon Network's site has been updated with a new clip from Transformers: Animated. This two minute high-quality video features the opening credit sequence and an interesting fight sequence sprinkled with a bit of humor. To see it for yourself, click here.

In more Transformers: Animated news, an in-depth look at the series has been posted at Newsarama. The article gives a great summary of the show's plot and the direction it's heading, along with some information provided by Transformers: Animated's story editor Marty Isenberg.

“Bumblebee was originally Hotshot in the development,” he admits, "but we were told that Bumblebee was going to be a breakout character in the live action movie, so we happily swapped that one out. Ratchet was originally Red Alert, and believe it or not, was female! Bulkhead at one point was going to be the crusty veteran, but we shifted his role when we changed Red Alert to Ratchet.”